Solar Cycle Variations of the Ionospheric Peak Electron Density

Details Solar Cycle Variations of the Ionospheric Peak Electron Density Solar Cycle Variations of the Ionospheric Peak Electron Density

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufmsh24a..03r&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #SH24A-03

Physics

2427 Ionosphere/Atmosphere Interactions (0335), 2443 Midlatitude Ionosphere, 5435 Ionospheres (2459), 7538 Solar Irradiance

Scientific paper

We examine the response of the Earth's ionosphere to the solar cycle variation in photoionization by solar EUV radiation. The peak electron density (NmF2) responds to solar cycle changes in a complicated manner that depends on season and geographic location. Increases in the solar EUV ion production rate combine with increases in the atomic to molecular density ratio at the F2 region peak height (hmF2) to produces a factor of 3-4 increase in NmF2 over a solar cycle. Most of this increase takes place before the average solar activity index (F10.7) reaches 175. At solar maximum there is little relationship between daily F10.7 and NmF2. Data from mid latitude ionosonde stations show a tendency toward a semiannual variation in noon NmF2 with peaks at the equinoxes that become more pronounced as the level of solar activity rises. The Southern Hemisphere semiannual variation is more pronounced than in the Northern Hemisphere primarily because the winter density is relatively low in the Southern Hemisphere. At most locations the equinox density peaks are approximately equal. However, at solar maximum, the September peak is much weaker than the March peak at most Australian stations. Calculations from the field line interhemispheric plasma (FLIP) model reproduce the average seasonal and solar cyclical behavior of the measured NmF2 remarkably well most of the time using the MSIS neutral atmosphere model.

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